The present disclosure relates to an anti-glare apparatus that reduces glare of light emitted from a light source that exists outside a moving vehicle such as an automobile, a ship, or an aircraft.
Conventionally, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2008-189253 discloses such an anti-glare apparatus. The apparatus disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2008-189253 uses a motor to move a sun visor mounted on a headlining board in a passenger compartment between a shading position, where the upper section of a windshield is covered from the inside of the passenger compartment, and a retracted position, where the upper section of the windshield is not covered based on information obtained by a front view camera. A front view image taken by the front view camera includes a previously set defined area corresponding to the driver's field of view. If a high-intensity pixel is in the defined area, a glare reducing control ECU determines that sunlight is incident on the windshield, and moves the sun visor to a position between the shading position and the retracted position, or to the shading position to provide a shading state that blocks incident light reaching the driver's eyes through the windshield.
In the apparatus disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2008-189253, if a high-intensity pixel having an intensity greater than or equal to a previously determined intensity (e.g., sunlight) exists in the defined area in the front view image, the apparatus determines that sunlight is incident on the windshield, and uses the sun visor to block only the sunlight that enters from forward and above. Due to this, when the vehicle travels at night or in a tunnel, for example, glare of light of headlights of oncoming vehicles or glare of light of tail lights of vehicles in front of the moving vehicle and moving in the same direction as the moving vehicle (i.e., preceding vehicles) that enter from the front of the moving vehicle is not effectively reduced.
Accordingly, it is an objective of the present disclosure to provide an anti-glare apparatus that effectively reduces glare of light that enters from the front of a moving vehicle.